The latest audio clip doing the rounds shows PML(N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz discussing the Nawaz government’s coverage with then Information Minister Pervez Rashid. It is almost as if this was a reply to the audio leak purportedly showing then Chief Justice Saqib Nisar telling a judge that Mian Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam were to be kept behind bars. This audio is disturbing enough in that it shows an unelected person discussing with a minister the merits of persons and organisations his ministry deals with, burt is given a more sinister context when it is remembered that a previous leak showed them discussing governmental advertisement policy. Governments for decades have made no bones about the fact that would reward favourable coverage. However, the PML(N) has taken to criticizing the government for its curbs on the freedom of press. The leak shows that it did the same thing when in office, and the difference is merely one of degree.
There are some logistical issues raised. How was the recording made? Is it not possible for two people to have a conversation without some third person not just listening in, but recording? And for that recording to turn up years later? Is it possible that the two parties which are receiving the leaks are both being manipulated by the shadowy forces that installed the original taps?
There is the larger issue of how to stop this degeneration of politics, where audio leaks and video leaks take precedent over rallies and speeches. Time was, the pronouncement of a political leader at a rally would convulse the entire country. Now it seems, such statements are merely punctuation for leaks and secret meetings. Either politicians will paralyze themselves making sure that all their actions and conversations are innocuous, or they will become brazen and unashamed in private. Either way, the country will lose.
